PRO FOOTBALL : Ditka Aware of Bomb Before It Went Off

Before the Raiders played the Chicago Bears Sunday, Bear Coach Mike Ditka was asked to name the one player he’d like to have back from his 1985 NFL champions.

Unhesitatingly, he replied: “Willie Gault.”

A 1988 trade brought Gault to the Raiders in his prime, at 27, five years after the Bears drafted him in the first round. And Sunday’s first quarter was barely under way when Raider owner Al Davis got another payoff.

Running free and deep, Gault caught a long pass from quarterback Jay Schroeder on a 59-yard play that started the Raiders toward their fourth consecutive victory this season and ninth in a row at home for Coach Art Shell.

A long pass--a bomb--is one of the most exciting plays in spectator sports. But that isn’t why Davis insists on it and stocks up on the NFL’s fastest receivers, along with a quarterback who, as coached by Mike White, may be among the best long passers in the league.

“It’s easier to throw the ball 50 yards than run it 50 yards,” Davis said, noting that the shock value of a bomb is also often decisive.

Such a play usually requires a defensive mistake, as it did Sunday when rookie safety Mark Carrier, in the language of the players, “left the post.”

But as Davis well knows, football is a game of mistakes. That’s why they have instant replay.

The crowd reached 80,156--and became the Raiders’ 15th of more than 80,000 here in the last six years--because it met the peculiar conditions necessary for a large local turnout.

It has been shown for more than 40 years that Los Angeles fans will flock to the Coliseum for a pro game only if they think the home team has a chance against a good visiting team.

If the perception is otherwise--if the fans think the visitors are less than first rate, or if they think the Raiders will win easily, or don’t have much chance--they’ll go to the beach or tennis courts instead.

In the Ram era, when there were places for 100,000 at the Coliseum, the 100,000-person crowds all turned out in identical circumstances.

More familiar are last year’s Raider crowds, which ranged from 90,016 for the Denver Broncos--when it was correctly perceived that Shell’s young team had a chance against Denver’s champions--to 44,131 for a Kansas City club that was almost as powerful as this year’s, though it wasn’t so perceived.

In the opinion of three consecutive NFL owners in Los Angeles, the peaks and valleys in Coliseum crowd support have damaged team morale. They are Dan Reeves, Carroll Rosenbloom and Davis, who all concluded that if capacity were reduced to 70,000 good seats, the increased demand for tickets would ensure mostly 70,000 crowds before the start of the season. That’s why the new Coliseum will seat about that many.

Terry Bradshaw’s televised comments on pro games in progress Sunday were clear, concise and to the point. The CBS decision to move the Hall of Fame quarterback into the studio has been a service to football fans.

Bradshaw strengthens the pregame show as well, giving the CBS program more substance than NBC’s.

To many football fans, CBS has moved into a long lead with Bradshaw inside and John Madden outside.

Don’t count Denver receiver Michael Young among the football people who approve of instant-replay officiating in the NFL.

A former Ram and UCLA Bruin, Young reasons that instant replay has taken the art of acting away from the pros.

“Acting used to be a major part of a pass receiver’s game,” he said. “A lot of times, you could persuade the officials that you’d really caught the ball, that you hadn’t trapped it.

“Before instant replay, most receiver coaches coached acting. And if you showed real confidence that it wasn’t a trap--or that you had both feet inbounds--the officials might go along with you if they weren’t sure.”

Matt Millen, the San Francisco 49er linebacker who took the weekend off along with the others in the NFC West, nominates All-Pro wide receiver Jerry Rice as the most remarkable player he’s had as a teammate.

“I have more respect for Jerry’s work habits than anyone else I’ve seen,” said Millen, the former Raider known for putting out physically.

“From the moment he steps on the field, Jerry does nothing but work. He never messes around--and that’s rare for a receiver. It’s all but impossible for a star.”

It’s also good for San Francisco. Or, in time, it could be.

Although they have started 3-0 this season, the 49ers aren’t playing that well. They don’t seem to be greatly motivated.

Last year, their stimulus was showing former coach Bill Walsh that they could win without him. And that seemed inducement enough.

This year, the opportunity to win a third straight Super Bowl is serving the 49ers as, apparently, their only motivation--and that apparently isn’t enough. Every football team wants to win.

Fortunately for them, the 49ers line up two unusual role models, Rice and running back Roger Craig, whose year-round determination to be physically prepared is unique. It’s most unlikely that the others on the club would all emulate Rice and Craig, but if they do, they will seriously trouble the rest of the NFC.

He scouts for another NFL team, but Jack Elway of the New York Jets took it hard Sunday when the Denver Broncos blew a 21-9 lead in the last 10 minutes and lost to the Buffalo Bills, 29-28.

Elway has had a long interest in the Denver quarterback, John, his son.

“It may be hard to tell if this is a dad or a coach talking, but I really admire John’s toughness and competitiveness,” Jack said. “The kind of character he has doesn’t automatically go with great passing ability.”

The Bills surprised themselves when they won suddenly at the end with a three-fluke parlay--an 80-yard touchdown run with a blocked field goal attempt, a 39-yard touchdown run with a tipped interception and a Denver center- quarterback exchange fumble with a wet ball, in a noisy stadium, on the Denver two-yard line. The Bills scored the decisive touchdown on the next play.

“John will never complain,” Jack Elway said. “He takes on the responsibility for the success of their offense.”

As a coach, Elway spent five years with San Jose State and five with Stanford before joining the Jets.

“The one big difference between college and pro ball is the pros’ intensity,” he said.

“There are times when college teams have it too, of course, but it can drain away on a college team. The maturity of NFL players and the way they maintain their intensity are extraordinary.”

A pass offense specialist, Elway has concluded that the Jets are about to become a factor in the AFC with General Manager Dick Steinberg, Coach Bruce Coslet and quarterback Ken O’Brien.

“And they already have their next quarterback,” he said, naming rookie Troy Taylor of Cal. “When Taylor was in high school, I tried to recruit him. In addition to size, he’s got all the things you can’t coach.”